


Only For The Night

by eren_writes



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Cheating, M/M, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-15 21:17:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15421785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eren_writes/pseuds/eren_writes
Summary: They say time heals all wounds. But is that really the truth?Eren and Levi used to be lovers.Five years on and following a chance encounter, they can't deny their lingering feelings for each other.





	Only For The Night

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TaxiDamask](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaxiDamask/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Is There Somewhere](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15419685) by [TaxiDamask](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaxiDamask/pseuds/TaxiDamask). 



> Because my friend made me a thing, I have made them a thing, too. 
> 
> Using my scarce, painfully slow and limited internet access, I quickly wrote a response to their amazingly heartfelt work. 
> 
> I hope you don't mind my elaboration, or my take on what happened next. I just loved your work so much I was inspired to sit and write something in response.

Eren’s cheap sneakers weren’t living up to their name. Each footstep squeaked across the polished floor, making his cheeks redder by the second as he followed Levi to the elevator. He knew he was being shamed, called out for the way he accepted this invitation without half as much hesitation as there should have been. He was ashamed of himself for accepting the offer in the first place - but was he more surprised by his acceptance, or that the offer had come at all? His lack of hesitation was therefore borne of fear. Fear that the invite would be retracted before his greedy, outstretched hands had the chance to take it.

His fingers twitched inside his pockets, restless. He slung them in his jeans to stave off the desire to reach out for Levi’s unoccupied palms. In the back of his mind somewhere he pondered if Levi’s hands were still as warm as he remembered them to be, if the impossible softness of his skin remained or had given way to a roughness in the five years since he last felt them upon his flesh. 

Once inside the elevator Eren heaved a sigh of relief. No prying eyes here except that of the tiny camera in the corner. He nervously looked up at it, swallowing hard the doubt rising in the back of his throat. He could feel the silent judgement from the singular beady eye and turned away from it guiltily. He hadn’t done anything yet. For all he knew, Levi’s softly spoken offer was to share a drink, share a memory - not a bed.  _ I’m getting ahead of myself _ , Eren thought. He tried not to notice the lack of silver on Levi’s hand as he pressed the button for his floor.

“I never thought I’d see you again,” Eren murmured, silently cussing the way words seemed to tumble out of his mouth. He really ought to get the impulse checked out before it completely ruined him. 

“Do you wish you hadn’t?” Levi asked. He was staring ahead, at the blurred reflection of himself in the elevator doors. They looked like an oil painting, or an old memory, fuzzy and out of focus. 

“I don’t know.” Eren answered honestly. 

Levi hummed in the back of his throat. A trait of his, deployed when he had no words to offer up in return. It was an acknowledgement and nothing more. Certainly, so far Levi remained much the same as the one in Eren’s memories. That at least was something of a comfort, to know the man beside him wasn’t now a complete stranger. There were parts of Levi’s life that carried on without him being there, the passing of time evident in the subtle flecks of white that streaked Levi’s hair. Eren found it endearing at the first, and then his heart gave a twist for the time he once dreamed of growing old with this man. Now that was a priveledge for someone else. He pushed the thought aside vehemently. 

The doors opened with a pleasant chime and Levi stepped out first. Eren followed closely behind, silently grateful for the carpet that muffled the noise of his footsteps, unlike the lobby downstairs. They walked the hallway in silence, Eren a pace behind, his eyes on nothing but the back of Levi’s head. His haircut was the same. Were the strands at the top of his neck still as sensitive as he remembered? Did Levi shiver as he once did, his teeth gritted together as he fought to hold on -

Eren shook his head. Levi’s body wasn’t his to fantasize over anymore. It belonged to someone else. 

“Here,” Levi said, producing a card from his pocket and swiping it through the mechanism on the door, “it’s not too late to turn back, you know.” He glanced up at Eren as the light on the door flashed green and clicked loudly. He pushed the door open.

Eren steeled himself.  He knew what it meant to step over the threshold. He could already feel the stitches being torn from his wounds, as raw as the day Levi left them on his body. “I don’t want to leave.”

“Then come in.” 

The room was modern, stylish and minimalist. A coffee table held a selection of untouched magazines, all promoting the kind of lifestyle Eren would only read about from glossy pages. Over by the window - a magnificent city view, no less - was the desk Levi was apparently working from. His laptop was there, papers neatly arranged nearby. _ I wonder what he’s working on?  _ Eren didn’t flip the pages, not like he once would have, to find out the answer. He marvelled at the view instead, whistling a note from his tongue. “That’s quite the view.”

“Not bad for an afternoon, I suppose.” Levi mused, coming to stand next to him. “Are you really going to just admire the view out the window, Eren?”

“I- What?” Eren turned, fixing his gaze on Levi. His expression was unreadable. 

“Don’t play dumb.”

“...Levi…” Eren whispered the name from his heart, his body melting into Levi’s embrace. He hadn’t held anyone since then, he’d almost forgotten how it felt to feel another’s sturdy warmth against his own body. It felt good, tears pricking at the corners of his closed eyes as he squeezed the muscular frame tightly, afraid to wake up from this nightmare masquerading as a dream. He wasn’t ready to wake up, not yet. He wanted to enjoy the moment a little longer. 

Before he knew it, his lips had found Levi’s, like tracing a memory of years gone by. It was tender, stoking the flames of passion that burned beneath the surface. They’d always been fiery lovers, living for the flesh of the other, insatiable in their desire of one another. On that dreary afternoon, however, it was different. As if they had all the time in the world with which to enjoy themselves, their kiss was slow and unhurried. Instead of passion, it burned with the pain of years wasted, of things that could have been and never would be, it burned with bittersweet longing forever unfufilled.

“Eren…” Levi murmured, his fingers entwined in Eren’s hair, anchoring them together. 

Eren already knew what he was going to say. He could feel it in his bones, just the same as he did five years ago. He knew what was coming next and in his desperation to stop it, he pressed his lips over Levi’s, stealing another kiss more urgent than any that had come before it. He hoped  to crush the words that piled up in the back of Levi’s throat, turning a blind eye. He wasn’t ready to let go, not having come this far. 

Eren wanted nothing more than to stop the clock, to linger in a time neither here nor there. No tomorrow, no yesterday. Only  _ now _ . 

Eren pleaded between tear soaked kisses, unsure whether they were entirely his or shared. “Can’t we just pretend?”

“Pretend what?” Levi asked, his voice shaking equally.

“That it doesn’t hurt.”

_ That the last five years didn’t belong to someone else. _

 

* * *

 

 

It was wrong. 

The empty space on Levi’s left hand was wrong, made worse by the way his ringless fingers clutched at Eren’s hand with a desperation that scared him cold to the marrow. He knew that he couldnt stay wrapped in tangled sheets and limbs like this forever, but he wanted to. 

Even as his phone lit up and rang silently on the nightstand.

He closed his eyes and did his best to pretend.

To pretend that the last five years didn’t happen, and that he still belonged to the man sleeping soundly in his arms.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
